


Pre-approved

by distractionpie



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Bacara doesn't have fewer problems just dumber ones, Brothers, Gen, M/M, Post-Oya Vode, Shovel Talk, Soft Wars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:01:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26507890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/distractionpie/pseuds/distractionpie
Summary: Since settling on Concord Dawn, the vode have made traditions out all kinds of ad hoc behaviors, including a framework for brothers butting their noses into romance. He wasn’t expecting to find himself on this end of the equation, but Bacara endures.
Relationships: CC-8826 | Neyo/CT-0292 | Vaughn
Comments: 14
Kudos: 105
Collections: Open Source Soft Wars





	Pre-approved

**Author's Note:**

> 15 years in fandom and this is my first fic of a fic can you believe? Soft Wars is just too good, too pure to resist...
> 
> All the credit to Projie for building this sandbox, love to all the folks who create such a great atmosphere in the discord server that make it so welcoming to come play, and especially thanks to CmonCmon for looking over and providing feedback on my draft of this when I was starting to lose the plot.

Bacara has been ambushed with many things. Battle-droid blasters, separatist bombs, and the teeth of what sometimes feels like an encyclopaedia of the galaxy’s worst wildlife were the most common sources; but far from a comprehensive list.

Hot chocolate is new.

Still, there’s no doubt that Vaughn’s occupation of Bacara’s preferred spot by the lake is an ambush. A considerately laid one, he’s allowed Bacara the home ground and been sure not to startle with his presence; but also arranged things so he can’t evade this without it being obvious that he’s doing so deliberately.

He takes the mug. It’s a trap designed to keep him here, but when facing down the inevitable it’s better to take all the resources he can get.

It’s good hot chocolate. Neyo's newly developing personal stash good.

An ambush and an extravagant bribe.

Vaughn is fishing for something. In the field, Bacara looked after his men, and on Concord Dawn he looks after his brothers, but that’s not a duty he carries alone anymore and there are plenty of brothers far closer to Vaughn, Lightning and Torrent both. To bring Vaughn to him, this must be something so specific to Neyo that only Bacara’s assistance will do.

Bacara sighs.

He gets quite enough Vaughn related talk from Neyo, without adding the reverse. But for Vaughn to have gone to the trouble of laying this trap for him means whatever his reasons, they’re important.

Bacara waits.

“How do you feel about tooka-sitting?”

It’s not quite what Bacara is expecting, but only Neyo would deny the obvious link. Kot. If there was ever a reason to embrace the prayer that rippled out from the core, brother to brother, a belief so thoroughly grounded in themselves that it reached even Nova, distant behind separatist lines, it’s this.

Vaughn doesn’t miss the double tap, but his smile just gets brighter.

“Is tooka-sitting required?” Bacara asks. And if it is, why come to him? There are so many others who’d do that sort of favour without the implicit concession as to Neyo’s investment in the animal.

“Not immediately, but... soon,” Vaughn says. “I hope. I was thinking it might be nice to take a trip, see some of the galaxy when it’s not shooting at us.”

But tooka-sitting would only be required if Neyo were going on the trip. And if Neyo really wanted Bacara to watch his pet while he took a vacation with his boyfriend he’s smart enough to find a way to ask while not admitting the tooka is his, without resorting to getting Vaughn to do it for him. So... Neyo doesn’t know about this conversation.

Vaughn has come to Bacara first, but why? “Where?”

Vaughn shrugs. “Somewhere nice,” he says unhelpfully. “I’ve heard good things about Naboo, or maybe Alderaan.”

Allied planets, where the vode already have ties, so he’s not looking for Bacara’s support on the subject of risky travel.

“There are a lot of interesting cultural landmarks,” Vaughn continues. “But just as many opportunities to relax and do nothing, if he’s interested.”

If?

So far as Bacara can see, the something between Neyo and Vaughn is long past decanted and almost ready for paint. Vaughn is leading their charge when it comes to the unknown territory that is romance, but he’s never before shown a hint of doubt that Neyo has his six, even if Neyo tends to turn shades hitherto unseen in humans when trying to talk seriously about it. If Vaughn makes a suggestion, Neyo is interested. Bacara has heard far too much about the strange things they do for dates for it to be plausible that Vaughn could question Neyo’s interest, especially over something as simple as a vacation.

Neyo doesn’t reflect Vaughn’s demonstrativeness, but they’d have gotten nowhere if Vaughn hadn’t learned to see the care beneath Neyo’s spikes and bluster. Yet there's something expectant in Vaughn's expression that says he has a real question on his mind, even if it’s not what it appears.

“I can’t imagine he wouldn’t be,” Bacara hazards.

“You think so?” There’s just a little more emphasis than expected on Vaughn’s first word.

Oh. Not Neyo.

Bacara missed much of the vode’s cultural growth, first from isolated training and then cut off from his brothers behind enemy lines. For all the efforts made to ensure the marines are at home here, there’s much which is normal to his brothers that still catches him by surprise.

In Nova, vode had paired off, but those matches were fleeting, private things. His own history with Rex began long before the vode became who they are today, and Kit is a jedi and their rules are different.

But Bacara remembers words exchanged —Ponds, Bly, Wolffe— men who trusted Rex’s strength and judgment and who respected and valued Bacara, but had still warned him off wronging their Rex’ika because that was the place of ori'vode. Squad Shebse being shebse, or so he’d figured at the time, Cody exempted only because back then they weren’t settled enough for him to risk straddling the line between brother and vod’alor. And he’s seen the same behaviour from others now, brothers pairing off being taken as invitation for batchers or squad-mates to make clear their readiness to protect their own.

The conversations are layered things, recognition wrapped in declarations, of loyalty and of intent. It’s not a lack of trust in their vode, but being able to rely upon a brother in a firefight doesn’t counteract the possibility of broken hearts. This is what they do now, to watch each other’s backs against less physical threats.

Neyo’s relationship with his batch-mates has repaired somewhat since the war ended, but Bacara is still closer. And it seems Vaughn has decided one of those conversations is overdue between them.

Bacara has always done what he can to give the brothers around him what they need. If this matters to Vaughn, and indirectly to Neyo, he can’t ignore it; but nor is he certain of how to begin.

Bacara isn’t like the elder members of squad shebse, no more than Neyo is like Rex, nor Vaughn himself like Bacara. Repeating this conversation as he’d experienced it wouldn’t fit. And the gentle threats which seem to be the common thread, when he’s seen other brothers having conversations like this, aren’t something Bacara can offer Vaughn, not when he’s come in good faith and Neyo was unlikely be appreciative if it got back to him.

A warning against hurting Neyo? It would be empty words. With so many old wounds, many of which Neyo works hard to hide, closeness is impossible without the risk of accidentally pressing against a sore spot. Vaughn has hurt him and will hurt him again, it’s how he handles the aftermath which matters and in that Vaughn’s record is faultless.

As for intentional harm... Vaughn had taken Rex’s retaliation to Neyo’s joke and launched his whole self into it like he was propelled by one of Torrent’s karked experimental jetpacks, so earnestly enthusiastic he’d slipped right past Neyo’s defences. He’s close enough to put a knife in Neyo’s back and twist, but that too is part and parcel of intimacy, and Vaughn couldn’t have moved on Neyo without being given the opening. It had been Rex who’d picked Vaughn for Neyo. Impulsively and with no intent for it to go so far, but he’d known enough by then about Bacara, and by extension Neyo, and life behind the blockade, that he wouldn’t have lined up even a joking shot if he thought there was a chance of harmful backfire.

Bacara doesn’t quite understand how Rex came to his decision, but that’s never been a condition of his trust. “Rex picked well. You’re good together.”

It’s the truth.

And it’s something Vaughn already knows. Even with Rex having set it up, Bacara or Jet or one of the Edee boys, or any number of Torrent and Lightning brothers who cared for Vaughn, would have stuck their noses in long before now if there was any doubt. But the verbal confirmation seems to be what Vaughn needs to settle his smile back into place.

“So, the tooka-sitting?”

“If Neyo asks me to.”

After all, the vode are making a tradition of brotherly approval coming with some sort of challenge, and Bacara sees no reason to deny his brothers.

**Author's Note:**

> The worst part about this fic is that I was already too far gone to revise it in when I realised that there absolutely is somebody in Neyo's life who’d need no prompting to share opinions: WAC-47.


End file.
